Mismatch
by The Demon
Summary: Ibuki spends an ordinary day goofing off in urban Tokyo... and then meets someone very unusual...


Anger was all Ibuki knew.  
  
A red haze blurred her vision. An uncanny calm settled on the young  
  
kunoichi as her muscles tensed of their own accord. Adrenaline coursed  
  
through her system as the rage set in, and she could feel herself heat  
  
up as her heart quickened its pulse.  
  
"What... did you just say?" she said in a soft and even voice that did  
  
not quite belie the turmoil within.  
  
The question was laced with venom, and only reflected a fraction of the  
  
burning ire in the young girl's soul. Her fists clenched, and the  
  
light in her fiery brown eyes flickered intensely. Until finally, the  
  
righteous indignation inside boiled over, erupting forth with all the  
  
explosive fury she could muster from every fiber of her very being.  
  
Ibuki took a deep breath.  
  
"YOU'RE CHARGING ME HOW *MUCH* FOR ICE CREAM!!?"  
  
The shopkeeper of the Sugar Stop didn't stand a chance.  
  
Moments later found Ibuki striding casually out of a brightly decorated  
  
shop with a big sign above the door proclaiming it to be the local  
  
distributor of assorted sweets. Predictably enough, she was holding an  
  
ice cream cone in one hand as she emerged, and was happily licking at  
  
the cold, creamy confection perched on top of it.  
  
"Really, now," she muttered, but with a smile. "Ice cream is getting  
  
SO expensive these days. It's a good thing I have my overflowing charm  
  
and charisma to back me up!" Said overflowing charm and charisma just  
  
backed her up to the extent of 'persuading' the proprietor of the shop  
  
behind her to add as much as two extra scoops to her afternoon treat.  
  
Whirling with a flourish, Ibuki grinned widely and waved at the man  
  
staring balefully at her from inside the shop.  
  
"Thanks for the ice cream!" she yelled gaily. "You're too, too kind!"  
  
At this point, perhaps a little explanation is in order.  
  
As was mentioned, Ibuki is a 'kunoichi', which roughly translates into  
  
'female ninja', or 'girl assassin'. Thus, one might rightfully wonder:  
  
"How is it that a kunoichi, one who trains in and dedicates her entire  
  
self to the intricacies of combat and stealth, is now being observed  
  
strolling casually down the streets of urban Tokyo, quite innocently  
  
enjoying the delights offered by the splendid gentlemen of Hägen Das?"  
  
Now, as one might imagine, training in ninjutsu is no joke, and Ibuki,  
  
for one, is made rather painfully aware of this on a regular basis.  
  
Now, usually, this wouldn't affect your ordinary stalwart disciple of  
  
ancient martial arts. However, Ibuki expresses herself as feeling with  
  
a healthy fervor the urges, whimsical needs, and flights of fancy that  
  
might strike the heart of a vibrant, vivacious, and beautiful teenage  
  
girl, which is-- fortunately enough-- exactly what she happens to be.  
  
Details on either point are unnecessary here-- suffice it to say, dear  
  
reader, that on this fine day, our young heroine just felt like taking  
  
a break, though whether from the rigors of learning the way of ninja,  
  
or from its tendency to degenerate to sheer, drop dead monotony, one  
  
cannot say.  
  
It doesn't matter.  
  
Ibuki was licking some of the sweet, syrupy runoff from her fingers  
  
when it came to her-- the sound of someone screaming for help. This  
  
was from nowhere nearby, though; kunoichi are encouraged to develop  
  
better and more efficient use of senses other than sight, allowing the  
  
free-spirited, albeit remarkably attentive Ibuki to hear what those  
  
more mundanely aligned around her couldn't catch over the city din.  
  
And though given to frequent truancy, even occasional insubordination,  
  
and the odd prank or two, Ibuki was not one to let a call for help go  
  
unnoticed.  
  
With skills honed from years of intense training in her forest village  
  
home, Ibuki hopped onto the rooftop of a nearby café with catlike grace  
  
and surefootedness. Her abandoned ice cream cone tumbled once in the  
  
air as it fell, landing on a passing man's head with a squishy plop.  
  
"Did that girl just jump on top of that building and drop ice cream in  
  
your hair!?" the pedestrian's female companion exclaimed in wonder.  
  
Silently, the man nodded.  
  
"Yes... yes, she did."  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
Pure Evil Productions Presents...  
  
"Men Are Better Than Power"  
  
or  
  
"Mismatch"  
  
by: MtB  
  
or simply, Mads  
  
A Street Fighter 3rd Strike lemon  
  
hosted by the benevolent Racewing Productions  
  
http://racewing.anifics.com  
  
Started: 06/01/03  
  
Completed: 12/30/03  
  
Disclaimers: This story will have within it scenes of either implicit  
  
or explicit sexual content, which is usually inappropriate for anyone  
  
below the age of eighteen, has been known to cause severe distress in  
  
the morally upright, and may be illegal in certain states or countries.  
  
Whether you take this information as a warning or an invitation is, of  
  
course, completely up to you.  
  
I do not own Street Fighter or any other lucrative, merchandisable  
  
game series, nor do I claim to-- I merely have the characters presented  
  
herein on loan for a while. If I make even the tiniest bit of monetary  
  
profit from writing this, then may Capcom and every party concerned  
  
feel free to summon all the legal fury they can muster and rain down on  
  
me to pound my pitiful, pirating ways into nonexistence.  
  
I'm writing this out of sheer boredom, and a slight curiosity as to  
  
whether what I have intended for this fic can be done. Run away NOW.  
  
Seriously.  
  
Heaven or Hell? Let's rock.  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
As Ibuki ran down a deserted city block and skidded to a stop in front  
  
of the mouth of an alley, the first thought that flashed through her  
  
mind as she peered into the shadows was: "Hmmmmmmmn... Isn't he kinda  
  
small to be a mugger?"  
  
The kunoichi's eyes quickly adjusted to the gloom, and she hastily  
  
reassessed her appraisal of the figure she saw standing in the narrow  
  
corridor.  
  
The young man with his back to her wasn't really small-- just thin.  
  
And not really all that thin, actually-- just lean. Lean, and corded  
  
lightly with wiry muscle that gave him a taut, whip-like appearance  
  
enhanced by his posture. He turned a bit, allowing Ibuki to see some  
  
of his face. A rather prominent forehead on the male's part made him  
  
seem younger than he actually was, but Ibuki pegged him at being around  
  
just a couple of years shy of her own age-- if he was not actually the  
  
same age as herself. Blue hair crowned his head in wild, unruly tufts  
  
almost too short to be touched by the wind.  
  
Ibuki quickly scanned the surroundings and saw with some shock that the  
  
young man was surrounded on all sides by a troupe of several much  
  
larger individuals. The motley crew was attired in typically criminal  
  
ensembles, from shiny black leather decorated with silvery spikes, to  
  
delinquent caps and yukatas emblazoned with their gang colors. From  
  
the looks of it, more than half of them were also carrying small items  
  
identifiable as short order meleé weaponry as well; bodkins, saps, lead  
  
pipes, billy clubs, that kind of thing. It didn't take a genius to  
  
divine that these gentlemen weren't exactly out for a game of gin.  
  
Ibuki stayed where she was, though not by reason of any reluctance to  
  
jump into the proverbial fray. She cocked her head to the side with  
  
some curiosity...  
  
One of the hoodlums was sticking out of a nearby dumpster buttfirst.  
  
Ibuki would have bet any amount of money that it wasn't by choice.  
  
The rest of the gang was similarly afflicted, with another brute limply  
  
dangling by the back of his leather jacket on the corner of a doorway.  
  
A few others were rather unceremoniously draped over the high wooden  
  
plank fence that marked the end of the alleyway. The rest were simply  
  
slumped forward, sitting with their backs against the walls, also quite  
  
decidedly as unconscious as anyone can get without being dead.  
  
Blue Hair Boy was the only one standing. Ibuki decided she could  
  
safely say that he hadn't been the one screaming for help earlier.  
  
Ninja training and all, Ibuki had gathered all this within the time it  
  
takes to blink. There didn't seem to be any prompt aid of any form  
  
necessary, so the young girl absently put her finger in her mouth and  
  
took the time to study the lone conscious subject in the area a little  
  
more closely.  
  
He'd had his back to her, and didn't seem to have noticed her arrival.  
  
The boy-- she just couldn't seem to think of him as a full grown *man*  
  
for some reason-- was dressed rather unusually, she noted with growing  
  
fascination. He had on a somewhat form-fitting orange sleeveless vest,  
  
trimmed in black along the arm holes and down the center of his chest  
  
up to where his trousers began. Around his neck, he wore a brief black  
  
scarfish thing that appeared to jut straight out from behind his neck.  
  
Black military pants, thick black elbow-length battle gloves and evil-  
  
looking, orange-streaked boots completed the whole getup; Ibuki wasn't  
  
entirely sure, but she thought she'd seen the combination of clothes in  
  
a movie before, or at least something close.  
  
And then suddenly, the blue-haired boy extended his arm to the side  
  
theatrically, though Ibuki was pretty certain he wasn't aware anyone  
  
was watching him. It looked like some kind of victory pose.  
  
"What a ham," Ibuki thought to herself, suppressing a giggle, becoming  
  
more and more intrigued by the second.  
  
And then before the ninja's very eyes, a blood red cape materialized  
  
out of nowhere, starting from where the boy's scarf had been, and then  
  
spiraling into existence as though it were a fluid being poured. The  
  
crimson length of cloth fluttered lazily in the wind. It glided across  
  
the boy's outstretched arm and he casually caught one end with his  
  
raised hand.  
  
Ibuki blinked.  
  
The boy spun dramatically, pulling on his cape, wrapping himself in it  
  
as he turned. He stopped cold when he saw the young girl staring at  
  
him with wide eyes from the mouth of the alley.  
  
Ibuki took her finger from her mouth and beamed at the blue-haired boy.  
  
"Oh, WOW, that was a neat trick!" the young ninja enthused, brown eyes  
  
sparkling. "How'd you do it? Could you show it to me again??"  
  
The sight of the young girl goggling at him and his cape didn't seem to  
  
please the blue-haired stranger in any degree. Ibuki couldn't imagine  
  
why-- she'd long ago given up walking into town in her kunoichi attire.  
  
People didn't seem to take to the sight too well.  
  
What did she look like now? Well...  
  
She still kept the light tan bandanna around her head, where only a few  
  
long locks of her bangs peeked out from the front, that and her long  
  
ebon ponytail from behind. But these days, she also wore an ordinary  
  
store-bought blouse and a short skirt instead of the ninja garb she was  
  
much more accustomed to. True, the clothes were less than useful for  
  
disappearing quickly into the shadows, but were also much less likely  
  
to attract any unwanted attention when mingling in a crowd.  
  
The ninja was rather proud of her newly acquired fashion sense, really-  
  
today, she had opted for a stunning black short-sleeved number, a khaki  
  
vest as a top, and a light pair of fluffy black summer shorts. They  
  
were, in fact, so summery, and so short that they rather resembled  
  
men's boxers...  
  
In fact, both her black t-shirt and the black shorts she wore were at  
  
least one and a half sizes too small for her. Actually, as one may  
  
have gathered by now, Ibuki wasn't as well-versed in modern fashion as  
  
she liked to think she was. At any rate, she failed to notice the size  
  
discrepancy as far as being comfortable went-- the tightness really  
  
wasn't too different from the breast bindings she had to wear every day  
  
in training. By some kind of miraculous fluke though, her khaki vest  
  
actually seemed to be the right size for her.  
  
Nonetheless, the rest of her attire wasn't made with her build range in  
  
mind... and with rather devastating results.  
  
The clothes were quite innocent in design, and reasonably cut, but the  
  
way the fabric of Ibuki's shirt stretched across her svelte body hinted  
  
rather strongly at the tight young creature underneath, and the way her  
  
too small shorts flared up around her hips, exposing more leg than  
  
should have been legal in many nations, didn't at all help. The way  
  
her khaki vest hung off her shoulders and around her sides framed her  
  
body, and seemed to call further attention to the rest of her, if  
  
anything.  
  
With a wry grin, Ibuki tried to recall the number of men who 'happened'  
  
to walk into walls and ditches at the sight of her as she was passing  
  
by. She'd happily assumed it was because of her clothes, and how well  
  
and appropriately she'd dressed.  
  
Well, she was half right.  
  
All this seemed to be lost on the young man who frowned from the alley,  
  
studying her. He began to walk slowly towards Ibuki.  
  
"When did you get here?" he demanded roughly. "How much did you see?"  
  
The girl didn't appear to be fazed.  
  
"Not very much," Ibuki admitted, but with an air of regret, putting a  
  
finger on her chin cutely. "It's too bad, really. I'd have liked to  
  
see how someone like you could've flattened all those gorillas over  
  
there without a scratch anywhere."  
  
The boy paused.  
  
"You... you're not going to report me to the authorities?" he asked. A  
  
small measure of defensive annoyance drained out of the boy's face.  
  
What remained was a sort of dubious caution. He stared at the kunoichi  
  
warily, an eyebrow raised. "You're not going to alert the police?"  
  
"Heck, no!" Ibuki laughed gaily. "I mean, maybe you should go yourself  
  
but I don't think you'll get much bounty for *that* bunch of losers."  
  
She grinned.  
  
The boy snorted loudly, though he seemed satisfied by the statement.  
  
"Very well then," he began to say contemptuously, gesturing grandiosely  
  
with his cape, looking away and closing his eyes. "If you didn't see  
  
anything, then I suppose I can spare y--"  
  
"Hey! Wha'd you do to THIS guy?" Ibuki interrupted with a high-pitched  
  
squeal. "Chee! Looks like you really did a number on HIM!" The young  
  
kunoichi had hunkered down over one of the knocked out thugs and was  
  
poking at him with a stick she'd found nearby. "Wow... looks like he  
  
didn't even see you coming-- he's still got a stupid smile on 'im."  
  
The boy whirled, an incredulous expression on his face. At first, he'd  
  
been ready to dismiss the rather skimpily clad girl standing in front  
  
of him as a mere passerby, but then... she was suddenly *behind* him,  
  
in the alley, and he hadn't even seen her *move*.  
  
"How did she?" The boy's face twitched with disbelief. "... so fast?"  
  
Suddenly, the girl was in front of him, standing almost on tiptoe to  
  
stare up at his blinking brown eyes.  
  
"Hey, what's your name?" the girl asked.  
  
Habitual indignity conquered the boy's incredulity for a few moments,  
  
enough so that he snarled, "What's my name to a PEON like you?" With a  
  
shrug that said he would have nothing more to do with the kunoichi or  
  
his friends in the alley, the blue-haired boy turned to stalk down the  
  
street.  
  
"HEY! Who ya callin' a peon!?" Ibuki demanded as the boy walked away.  
  
She stood where she was, blinking inquisitively as the boy's red cape  
  
disappeared past a corner.  
  
"MY name's Ibuki," Ibuki told the empty street. With a sigh, she shook  
  
her head and turned to walk off herself when a groan came from the  
  
nearby alley. She paused and turned to see a few of the unconscious  
  
men begin to groggily get to their feet.  
  
"Hello?" Ibuki said to herself in surprise.  
  
"Oh, fuck, my fucking HEAD," was the drunken rejoinder from the alley.  
  
A sharp-faced man with spiky hair looked around dazedly with one eye,  
  
as the other was a little difficult to see with, having the distinct  
  
handicap of being swollen shut. "Where'd the fucking *runt* go?"  
  
"He's... the little fuck's fucking gone!" observed one of the fellow's  
  
more astute comrades. Though it can reduce one to a sad, groveling,  
  
incoherent heap, a broken leg usually does not interfere with one's  
  
sensory perception. "T-the fucking bastard!!!"  
  
"Hold on, you sorry fucks," another voice rumbled, an undercurrent of  
  
intense physical suffering belying his gruff tone. Having a dislocated  
  
shoulder and a bleeding nose does not make one very agreeable, not even  
  
to one's chums. "Looks like he's left his fucking girlfriend behind!"  
  
Even Ibuki could see where this was going.  
  
"Hoo, boy," she opined a little wistfully, putting a hand behind her  
  
head and tracing spirals on the ground with the tip of her toe.  
  
"GET HER!"  
  
"And here I promised senseii that I'd behave, too," was the sincere  
  
expression of remorse before battle-honed instincts lapsed into gear,  
  
combat-trained reflexes blazed to life, and several cans of pure, 100%  
  
unalduterated whupass were simultaneously let loose.  
  
Ibuki cracked a small smile.  
  
Okay, half-sincere.  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
It hadn't been as much fun as it could have been had the thugs been in  
  
the prime of their strength and health.  
  
As it were, someone had already wiped the floor with them once, and so  
  
Ibuki didn't find it much of a challenge putting all the hoodlums'  
  
lights out again and then tossing them back among the debris of the  
  
alley in interesting new positions. She was actually yawning by the  
  
time she was done with the last one.  
  
Rather diappointing, really.  
  
"Goodness, what was THAT all about?" Ibuki asked herself as she strode  
  
down the block. "Honestly. If I wanted to train with wooden-headed  
  
dummies, I'd have done better at home."  
  
The sound of a motorcycle revving up ripped through the air from the  
  
narrow space between two buildings.  
  
"Now what?" Ibuki wondered aloud, altering course to take a quick peek  
  
into the corridor. Her eyes widened with recognition at the figure she  
  
saw straddling the sleek, handsome machine that was beginning to belch  
  
out smoke from its exhaust pipe.  
  
"Hey, THERE you are!" Ibuki squealed with delight. His cape was gone,  
  
but there was no mistaking that back. Not to mention the blue hair.  
  
"What the-!?" Caught off guard, the boy on the motorcycle teetered  
  
precariously on his mount for a moment, and he fumbled with the handle-  
  
bars in surprise. The engine sputtered, coughed and then died with a  
  
dejected purr. Snarling, the boy looked over his shoulder at whoever  
  
had interrupted him, and *his* eyes widened with recognition.  
  
"YOU again!" he barked incredulously. "What do YOU want?"  
  
"Well, for starters," Ibuki began, skipping over to the boy's side,  
  
"I'd like to know your name."  
  
"Forget it," the boy said immediately, turning away from Ibuki to try  
  
and start his motorcycle again. "There's no way I'm giving my name  
  
away just like that to the first person who as--"  
  
He roared in outrage and fought to keep his balance once again when  
  
Ibuki suddenly hopped up in front of him and actually *sat* right in  
  
between his motorcycle's handlebars, parking her tush right on the  
  
speedometer. She smiled down at him with gleaming brown eyes.  
  
"I'm also kinda curious to know what you were doing in that alley with  
  
the Thirteen Stooges," Ibuki grinned happily on her perch. "But what  
  
I'd *really* like to know is how you beat them."  
  
The boy's expression was lopsided with pure disbelief. The blasted  
  
girl must weigh like a goddamned *feather*.  
  
"GET OFF!" he commanded shrilly.  
  
"Nice bike," Ibuki said sincerely in response. "I really like red."  
  
"YOU LITTLE--" the boy was saying, wanting to throttle Ibuki, but not  
  
daring to release the handlebars on his bike, lest all three of them  
  
topple over. He spared one hand to reach out for Ibuki, though, curled  
  
and twitching fingers inching slowly toward her neck. "I'M GONNA--"  
  
That was as far as he got. A loud, guttural cry tore across the air,  
  
and both the boy and Ibuki looked towards the mouth of the alley.  
  
Standing there was a small crowd of people with similar appearances as  
  
the ones they had left in the first alley. The throng began to grow  
  
larger as it was joined by more and more arrivals by the second. All  
  
looked armed, dangerous, and very, very pissed off about something.  
  
One of the men in front carried a chain, and he stepped forward,  
  
glaring death at the two on the motorcycle. He was the one who had  
  
hollered out the inarticulate alert.  
  
"THERE THEY ARE!!" he roared, and Ibuki caught a tiny whiff of rum on  
  
his breath from where she was sitting. The man in the lead stared at  
  
them with animal hate in his eyes. "Death for crossing the Hellkites!"  
  
"Woo, boy," Ibuki whistled. The boy on the motorcycle sneered.  
  
"DEATH! DEATH!" the other men behind the first echoed, and then they  
  
rushed in as one, weapons flailing-- straight for Ibuki and the blue-  
  
haired boy. Their mingled battle cries rose up over them in a great  
  
noise as they neared their target.  
  
Lip curled in a silent snarl, the blue-haired boy kicked a foot behind  
  
him to snap his bike's kickstand into place. He swung one leg from his  
  
seat to face the small oncoming army, and seemed to have forgotten  
  
about Ibuki completely. He began to step forward, a murderous gleam in  
  
his eye and a crazed smile on his lips.  
  
Ibuki slid off her place as well, grinning in anticipation.  
  
Looked like she was going to get at least one of her questions answered  
  
today.  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
It was a complete and utter mismatch.  
  
The boy was much stronger than she'd first imagined he was, Ibuki had  
  
to give him that. The lead gangster, the one with the chain, toppled  
  
backwards like a sack of grain when Blue Hair Boy crashed his fist into  
  
his jaw with a sickening crunch. The man couldn't fall to the ground,  
  
given how crowded the alley was becoming, so he was jostled about by  
  
his fellows until he was shoved out into the street and out of the way  
  
so everyone else could have a turn. Not that the rest of the Hellkites  
  
fared any better than him, though.  
  
It just didn't seem possible. He was so *small*.  
  
Blue Hair Boy simply plowed through everyone who came up to him, and  
  
soon, he was wading among the bodies of the fallen, smashing into the  
  
ranks of Hellkites and tossing them around like bowling pins. Not very  
  
long afterwards, a few began to seriously reconsider whether or not  
  
death was maybe just a little too drastic a consequence for crossing  
  
the Hellkites.  
  
A few stragglers had gotten past Blue Hair Boy and into the alley, but  
  
they got a nice view of the festivities from where they stood, so they  
  
were quickly coming to realize that they'd rather not tangle with him  
  
after all. Not quite having chickened out enough to outright run away,  
  
they desparately looked about for some way to get out of the situation  
  
without being accused of cowardice.  
  
It was then that they laid eyes on Ibuki. Standing there with a small,  
  
oblivious smile on her face, she must have made a very inviting target  
  
indeed.  
  
Ibuki cocked her head to one side.  
  
"ATTACK!" one of the goons cried, and they converged on the kunoichi.  
  
This, of course, played out with rather predictable results.  
  
Ibuki kicked up into the first man's stomach just as he reached her,  
  
making his eyes bug out almost comically before he slumped onto the  
  
dirt facefirst. The next fellow sidestepped his comrade, looking down  
  
at him in disbelief that a little girl had done that damage. He looked  
  
up into the heel of Ibuki's palm.  
  
The second hoodlum was still staggering backwards, blood spilling out  
  
of his nose, when the third and fourth reached Ibuki, both considerably  
  
more careful now than their predecessors. Not that it did either of  
  
them any bit of good.  
  
One of them stabbed forward with an icepick, while the other brought a  
  
bat down towards Ibuki's head. The ninja casually shifted slightly to  
  
the side and swatted the hand with the ice pick away from her, and into  
  
the downswing of the baseball bat. There was a loud, wet snap, and  
  
then a howl of agony. Ibuki leaned forward and yanked the bat from its  
  
owner's hand. Drawing back, she rammed its handle into its owner's  
  
throat, eliciting a strangled gurgle from him before his eyes rolled  
  
up, and he fell backwards in a heap.  
  
The man with the broken wrist was still howling. Ibuki cracked him on  
  
the side of the head with her heel and he fell silent at once, facedown  
  
on the ground.  
  
A fifth had sneaked up on her from behind. Before the Hellkite even  
  
knew what was happening, there was a brief, fluid scuffle, and then  
  
Ibuki was straddling his head from behind. With a jerk, the kunoichi  
  
twisted her hips and legs with a snap to send the man spinning to the  
  
ground as she jumped off him. The move whipped the man's head from  
  
side to side with almost lethal force-- he hit the ground with a thud  
  
and was motionless.  
  
Ibuki landed gracefully on the toes of her chic sandals.  
  
Again, she'd have gotten a better workout with the straw training dolls  
  
at home.  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
"K9999."  
  
Ibuki was sitting cross-legged on top of her pile of KO'ed opponents  
  
and had watched Blue Hair Boy pummel the rest of the goon parade into  
  
silly putty.  
  
The blue-haired boy was holding the last of the Hellkites by the collar  
  
of his black leather jacket, beating the large, two-hundred-pound man   
  
into a senseless, incoherent heap. Blue Hair Boy paused from his work  
  
and snapped his head towards Ibuki in obvious shock.  
  
"How did you know my name!?" he demanded breathlessly.  
  
Ibuki blinked at him with uncomprehending eyes.  
  
K9999 released the punchdrunk man he had by the collar and didn't  
  
notice when his victim slid onto the ground bonelessly. The boy's eyes  
  
never left Ibuki's.  
  
"HOW did you know my name!?" he repeated, much louder this time.  
  
Ibuki didn't answer until the boy had stalked up, fuming, face inches  
  
from her own.  
  
She shrugged. "I didn't," she said innocently. "I was just reading  
  
the paint job on your bike over there." She pointed, and sure enough,  
  
a large white 'K9999' was emblazoned boldly on the side of the bright  
  
red motorcyle leaning slightly to its side.  
  
"..."  
  
A wind blew past them, leaves and small bits of waste paper dancing in  
  
its wake. There were a few moments of silence.  
  
"So you beat those goons with no particular style-- just sheer power.  
  
And your name's K9999, whatever THAT means," Ibuki said thoughtfully,  
  
ticking the points off on her fingers. "Now that only leaves why you  
  
were in trouble with the Hellkites in the first place!" Ibuki grinned  
  
goodnaturedly at the stupefied young man.  
  
K9999 bristled with indignation once again and opened his mouth, about  
  
to say something not entirely pleasant. He closed his mouth again,  
  
reconsidering. Finally, he harrumphed and walked past Ibuki towards  
  
his bike.  
  
"What was that?" Ibuki said, eyes following K9999 as he walked past. "I  
  
can't hear you when you mutter under your breath like that."  
  
"None of your business," K9999 growled a little louder. He reached his  
  
bike and swung a foot over it. He stowed the kickstand, keyed the  
  
ignition, and the engine came to life with an impatient roar.  
  
Without another word, K9999 spun his bike around to face the alley exit  
  
and shot out with a high-pitched whine of gears, and then the soft  
  
'thuds' of his wheels rolling over the fallen Hellkites. K9999 turned  
  
the corner and vanished from sight.  
  
Ibuki stood where she was.  
  
"Come to think of it," she murmured to herself, "I'd really like to see  
  
that cape trick again." She looked down musingly at something she held  
  
in one hand. She'd picked it up sometime during K9999's demolishing of  
  
the Tokyo chapter of the Hellkites.  
  
"I wonder if he'll want this back..." Ibuki wondered to herself.  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
FINALLY. He was done with this pathetic city. He had what he wanted.  
  
Now, it was time to return to base and--  
  
"Niiiine-kuuun~"  
  
K9999 jerked the brakes of his bike with a start and he came to a  
  
screeching halt in the middle of a near-deserted suburban street. He  
  
whirled about for the source of the melodic, taunting voice.  
  
The people who knew him called him K9999. The last person who called  
  
him 'K' was still recovering from the rather severe and enthusiastic  
  
thrashing he'd generously administered to the lout. Nobody, not in all  
  
the boy's years, had EVER once called him 'Nine-kun'.  
  
It came as something of a shock to him, really.  
  
He turned around and, with a deepening sense of dread, K9999 thought  
  
that he'd know that voice anywhere.  
  
He twisted about slightly on his bike to look up at the figure framed  
  
by the receding light of dusk, and standing nonchalantly on top of a  
  
street lamp. This time, K9999 wasn't all that surprised anymore.  
  
"You again," he said for the second time, though the last time, it had  
  
been an expression of surprise-- now it was just a statement of fact.  
  
He stared up balefully into Ibuki's sparkling brown eyes. "What do you  
  
want NOW?"  
  
"Actually," Ibuki began, hopping off the street lamp and onto the  
  
street, "I think I have something YOU might want."  
  
K9999 was about to refute that in no uncertain terms when Ibuki reached  
  
him, plucked something from her vest pocket and then showed it to him  
  
on her open palm.  
  
Ibuki smiled at the boy's suddenly wide-eyed expression.  
  
"What in the-!?" K9999 choked the words out, at the same time hands  
  
flying over himself, patting down on the bulges of his pockets, fingers  
  
searching futilely for a shape that was no longer there. He looked  
  
himself over to verify what his hands told him, and then, finally,  
  
looked up, aghast, at the thing Ibuki held out in front of him.  
  
It was a small, fancy blue box.  
  
"How did you get that?" he asked, chagrined beyond measure. "Where did  
  
you find it!?" He made as if to grab for the object.  
  
Ibuki avoided the movement with a quick step backward.  
  
"Those first Hellkites must've seen you walk out of the jewelry store,  
  
Nine-kun," she said unconcernedly, still holding her prize up in sight.  
  
"That's why they harassed you in that alley. Although... I really do  
  
have to wonder who these earrings are for. They're cute, but really  
  
not your color, Nine-kun."  
  
Pushed beyond his limit, K9999 snarled and half-stumbled off his bike  
  
to make a sudden lunge for the box in Ibuki's hand. The girl leaned  
  
left, and K9999 missed it completely. He made another attempt.  
  
K9999 was fast, Ibuki had to give him that, but Ibuki was kunoichi--  
  
she evaded every swipe K9999 made for the small jewelry box with ease.  
  
Nine-kun was somewhat persistent, though, and their little game went on  
  
for a few minutes until the boy was panting a little from exertion. He  
  
stopped after a few more swipes to preserve what dignity he had left.  
  
He glared at her with all the ire he could muster.  
  
"GIVE THAT TO ME," he commanded.  
  
"Dinner."  
  
"WHAT!?"  
  
"Dinner," Ibuki repeated, smiling primly. "It's getting dark, and I'm  
  
getting a little hungry. It wasn't easy finding you in a city this  
  
big, you know, and with you on your little red bike. I think you owe  
  
me at least dinner for returning your rightful property."  
  
"If you won't give it to me," K9999 began to growl, "I'll have to TAKE  
  
it from you."  
  
At that, K9999 swung his arm again, but this time, it wasn't a grab for  
  
the box in Ibuki's hand, but a powerful right punch-- one that blazed  
  
with the flaming energy of human ki. Ibuki yelped, recognizing the  
  
strike for what it was just in time. She dodged nimbly to the side,  
  
and K9999's blow smashed into the street's asphalt, shattering it. A  
  
few passerbys stopped and looked over at the small disturbance, and  
  
then quickly turned away and kept on walking.  
  
Ibuki blinked in shock, and K9999 grinned slightly at the girl's  
  
rather frightened expression. The grin faltered somewhat when Ibuki  
  
suddenly frowned.  
  
"MOU," Ibuki pouted, sticking the small jewelry box in her hand into  
  
one of her vest pockets. "If that's the way you're gonna be playing,  
  
then I don't think I want to be friends with you anymore. So long,  
  
Nine-kun. I guess you don't really want this back after all. Thanks  
  
for the memories." She stuck her tongue out at him and then jumped  
  
high in the air, tumbling backwards once to land on a nearby rooftop.  
  
She spared the gawping boy below her a final glance before turning to  
  
leave.  
  
"NO, WAIT!" K9999 called out desperately.  
  
Ibuki paused and looked over her shoulder down at him.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
K9999 said nothing for a moment, and just stared up at the ninja-- he  
  
hadn't really believed she'd stay. Finally, he straightened, clenched  
  
his fists, and looked away. He cleared his throat.  
  
"What was that?" Ibuki called out. "I can't hear you when you mutter  
  
like that."  
  
"I SAID I'll buy you dinner!" K9999 repeated, baring his teeth at  
  
Ibuki. He visibly tried to restrain himself, but he simply could not  
  
resist-- he shook his fist up at the kunoichi. "You just give me back  
  
what's mine when you're done!"  
  
Ibuki appeared to consider this.  
  
"Okay!" she said brightly, nodding once. She hopped off the rooftop  
  
and made a perfect two-point landing in front of K9999. She looked up  
  
at the slightly taller boy with impish glee.  
  
"So, where do we eat?"  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
An hour or so later found the two in a wooded city park. It was a warm  
  
summer night, and they both sat on a large smooth boulder in the middle  
  
of a secluded clearing. Moonlight filtered through the clasped leaves  
  
of the branches above, providing them with just enough light to see.  
  
Eerie shadows cavorted about them as the wind fondled the trees.  
  
Nine-kun's bike leant over slightly on its side close by.  
  
Ibuki looked down at her 'dinner'.  
  
"An obento," she said, not for the first time. An 'obento', of course,  
  
is simply a boxed Japanese lunch. The kunoichi's voice was flat, but  
  
somehow laced with amusement.  
  
Nine-kun whirled towards Ibuki, enraged and embarrassed. "IT WAS ALL I  
  
COULD AFFORD, ALRIGHT!?" he snapped. He turned away, and went on in a  
  
softer voice, lower lip jutting outwards in displeasure. "Those  
  
earrings cost me more than I first expected."  
  
"Naw, I'm not complaining," Ibuki chirruped, opening the flat wooden  
  
box on her lap. "I LOVE obento! Thank you!"  
  
She broke the complementary chopsticks apart with a snap, and grinned.  
  
"Itadakimasu!"  
  
Done with the traditional Japanese pre-meal exclamation, Ibuki deftly  
  
picked up a piece of sushi, popped it in her mouth and began chewing  
  
with satisfaction.  
  
"YUM!"  
  
K9999 snorted and his frown grew even deeper. He laid his chin on his  
  
palm, staring out glumly at the night-enshrouded woods. He almost  
  
jumped when something tapped him on the shoulder. It was Ibuki.  
  
"Obento?" she offered, holding her dinner out towards him invitingly.  
  
Ibuki just loved the way the corner of Nine-kun's mouth twitched at  
  
that.  
  
"I don't want any," the blue-haired boy coughed and spun in the  
  
opposite direction, scowling. The effect was marred by the sound of  
  
his stomach grumbling a few moments later. He cursed under his breath.  
  
"Don't be silly, Nine-kuuuun," Ibuki singsonged, once again lengthening  
  
the playful suffix to her new nickname for K9999. She leaned over, the  
  
chopsticks in her hand, and waved a bit of sushi in front of Nine-kun's  
  
nose. "It's deliciooooous."  
  
K9999 turned to Ibuki, eyes afire.  
  
"I said I didn't want an-- MMMPH!"  
  
"There, wasn't that easy?" Ibuki giggled, withdrawing the chopsticks  
  
she'd popped into Nine-kun's mouth, effectively shutting him up.  
  
K9999 found that the food was too big to either spit out without making  
  
a mess, or swallowing without choking himself. He tore it apart with  
  
a couple of quick chews, choked it down, and then leaned towards Ibuki  
  
to express his discontent very, very angrily and very, very loudly.  
  
He opened his mouth... and paused.  
  
"See?" Ibuki said, tapping a chopstick on his nose. "Delicious."  
  
K9999 couldn't think of anything to say to that, so he remained silent.  
  
Ibuki raised up another serving of food.  
  
"Here," Ibuki said. "Eat up."  
  
K9999 grimaced but relented. He bit at the food roughly and chewed  
  
slowly and distractedly, eyes averted from the kunoichi's.  
  
"Hmm," Ibuki grinned, satisfied, and took another bite of their shared  
  
meal. She giggled and kicked her feet about delightedly. "Yummy!"  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
The boulder had soaked up the sunlight of the day-- it was comfortably  
  
warm and protected them from the slight chill of the night breeze.  
  
Ibuki's vest lay discarded to one side. K9999's battle gloves hung  
  
limply from the seat of his bike.  
  
"Bah," Ibuki said as she chugged down the last of her juice. "Couldn't  
  
you have gotten me a beer, too?"  
  
"Girls don't drink beer," K9999 responded absently, staring out into  
  
space, holding his can carelessly.  
  
"Well THIS girl sure does," Ibuki sniffed, licking her lips thirstily.  
  
She squealed mischievously and made a sudden lunge for K9999's drink.  
  
"HEY!" K9999 yowled, noticing at the last minute, and the two struggled  
  
briefly for the can, Ibuki wrestling playfully, while the boy tried not  
  
to get any of the drink spilled on himself.  
  
This time, K9999 was more successful at keeping Ibuki away from what  
  
was his. They both lay panting on the boulder, K9999 holding the can  
  
away from Ibuki, who was leaning on her arms, hovering above him. The  
  
kunoichi blinked, and looked down into K9999's face from where she was,  
  
the beer suddenly forgotten. Her large brown eyes stared intently into  
  
his.  
  
K9999 was suddenly aware of how close their bodies were at the moment,  
  
separated only by their clothes... which Ibuki didn't have much of. He  
  
reddened furiously, and he didn't know why.  
  
"What?" he demanded roughly to disguise his embarrassment.  
  
"You really have the cutest little frown, did you know that?" Ibuki  
  
told him seriously.  
  
"..."  
  
The distraction was all Ibuki needed-- K9999 didn't even move when she  
  
shot forwards and snatched the can of beer from his loosened fingers.  
  
She laughed gaily as she got off of K9999, sitting back in her place on  
  
the boulder. "You really are too, too easy, Nine-kun," she scolded  
  
lightly, taking a swig off her prize. "Really."  
  
Enough was enough. K9999's stepped forward to protest heatedly-- and  
  
then took a step back to fumble clumsily for something Ibuki tossed  
  
halfheartedly his way. He looked down to see the fancy blue box in his  
  
hands.  
  
"AHAH!" K9999 said triumphantly. Ibuki looked unconcerned, sitting and  
  
sipping at her beer.  
  
"A deal is a deal," Ibuki said in between gulps. "Dinner for the  
  
earrings. I've had dinner-- you get your earrings."  
  
"Thanks," K9999 told the kunoichi ironically, slipping the box into his  
  
pocket before spinning on his heel to leave. "... and *goodbye*."  
  
Ibuki watched as K9999 walked towards his bike, waited until he was  
  
about to mount it for the final time. She'd decided a while ago that  
  
she wanted to play a little game with this interesting young boy. She  
  
was feeling mischievous, and even a little attracted to Nine-kun, to be  
  
honest. She waited for the perfect moment, and then...  
  
"You'll never give it to her, you know," she proclaimed loudly in a  
  
supremely bored manner.  
  
The kunoichi seemed to have an uncanny knack for pushing the boy's  
  
buttons in all the right ways. K9999, who had at first thought that  
  
he was finally done with her, and could have her out of his life once  
  
and for all, swore tersely and hideously under his breath. He stopped  
  
just in front of his motorcycle, unable to resist Ibuki's baiting.  
  
"Why... do you say that?" he finally asked, making a herculean effort  
  
just to keep his voice even and calm.  
  
"Well, for starters," Ibuki began, laying back casually on the inclined  
  
face of the boulder she was sitting on. "You're extremely repressed,  
  
typical of a guy with a big, macho image of himself and how he should  
  
act... you're really uptight about everything, and don't know how to  
  
act in the real world, probably because you have something to prove to  
  
yourself all the time... and lastly, you've been acting this way all  
  
your life, even around whoever you're giving those to... meaning that  
  
you won't ever find the perfect moment to act out of character and  
  
suddenly give her a glamorous, expensive gift, especially since I don't  
  
think you've ever really given her *anything* in the past."  
  
K9999's jaw had dropped open, and he was staring at her with huge eyes.  
  
"Got it in one," Ibuki thought to herself, grinning. Aloud, she said,  
  
"I'll bet you've never even told her how you feel. I'll bet you've  
  
never even kissed a girl before."  
  
This was too much for K9999. "I COULD IF I WANTED TO!" He wanted to  
  
roar, but he shook with rage, and the shout came out as a choked  
  
sputter of words. "I COULD IF I WANTED TO! ANYTIME!"  
  
Ibuki turned to him, an eyebrow raised. "Prove it then. I dare you."  
  
She sat up on the boulder and pierced K9999 with a steady, strangely  
  
alluring stare. "Pretend that I'm her. Tell me how you really feel."  
  
Completely unnerved and taken aback more than anytime else before,  
  
K9999's face was a picture of total disbelief and incredulity.  
  
Ibuki smirked. "Scared?"  
  
Suddenly, the ninja was pinned to the boulder by her shoulders, her  
  
breath temporarily jolted out of her. Not even her lightning reflexes  
  
could prepare her for how suddenly K9999 had spun in a blindingly fast  
  
movement, and then had grabbed for her, with absolutely no chance for  
  
her to evade. For a moment, Ibuki thought that she might have gone a  
  
little bit too far with her little game.  
  
And then she caught sight of his eyes.  
  
K9999's eyes, which, up until then, had been stone-hard chips of brown,  
  
were now a mellow shade of dark chocolate. Something inside him had  
  
opened up, and he looked even more boyish and vulnerable than ever  
  
before. Ibuki's heart caught in her throat.  
  
There was silence. And then...  
  
"Angel..." K9999 started to say, making Ibuki wonder if that was the  
  
name of the girl K9999 knew. She held her breath as K9999's face moved  
  
nearer to hers. "Angel, I... I..." he murmured softly, drawing closer  
  
and closer. "Angel..."  
  
Ibuki half-expected K9999 to draw back suddenly and say it was all a  
  
big joke.  
  
And then their lips met, and it was more than anything Ibuki had ever  
  
experienced in her life. The kunoichi had experimented several times  
  
in the past, and thus, wasn't new to necking, but nothing could have  
  
prepared her for the flash of heat that ran through her body as their  
  
lips met. She shuddered from the core at the intensity K9999 was  
  
pouring into her, and for a long, agonizing moment, she found that she  
  
envied the girl named 'Angel' bitterly.  
  
Finally, they parted, and Ibuki's vision swam before her in a dim haze.  
  
She felt her shoulders released, and she put a hand on the rock behind  
  
her to steady herself, feeling her cheeks flush hotly.  
  
"Wow," she croaked weakly.  
  
K9999 wasn't looking at her, though. His face was crumpled in disgust,  
  
and he was staring at the grass, fists clenched. "You're right," he  
  
growled, teeth partly bared.  
  
"What?" Ibuki asked, confused.  
  
"You were right," K9999 repeated, not looking at her. "I could never  
  
have done that. I wouldn't know how. I'm useless."  
  
It took a while for this to sink in.  
  
"Are you kidding!?" Ibuki objected shrilly, standing up and putting  
  
both hands on her hips. "What do you MEAN you wouldn't know how!?  
  
What do you MEAN you're useless!? THAT... THAT WAS--" And then she  
  
stopped abruptly, a blush permeating her cheeks, and she turned around  
  
so he wouldn't see. She found she was wringing her hands in front of  
  
herself self-consciously. She stopped.  
  
"That was the best kiss I've ever had," she finished meekly.  
  
There were a few seconds of silence.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes," Ibuki said, and it was true.  
  
K9999 snorted dismissively. "Well, I couldn't do it again. Not with  
  
her. You were right-- I'd be too scared. She's..." He drew in a deep  
  
breath. "She's too special."  
  
Again, Ibuki felt a pang of envy for a girl she didn't even know. She  
  
girded herself and smiled shyly, still not looking at K9999. "Well,  
  
you've got the basics down pretty good..." she began to say bashfully,  
  
twiddling her thumbs. "The way I see it... all you need is a little  
  
practice... then you'd be perfect..." She'd forgotten all about her  
  
little game. Now, she was finding she had a huge crush on the surly  
  
young man named K9999.  
  
"You really think so?" K9999 asked, and finally, Ibuki turned around.  
  
Yes, she smiled to herself, she found him very, VERY cute.  
  
"Positive," Ibuki whispered, pulling him to her.  
  
He didn't resist.  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
They kissed again, and though it wasn't like the first time, it was  
  
still exceptionally good, and Ibuki felt a tenderness from the boy that  
  
he had tried to hide with all his bluster and bluff. The kunoichi had  
  
never had tenderness like this, had never had anyone see her as someone  
  
as special as how K9999 saw Angel, whoever she was. The ninja clawed  
  
hungrily at K9999's back and shoulders, wanting what she knew could  
  
never be hers.  
  
K9999 pulled away, a little startled. "Are you trying to smother me?"  
  
he gasped.  
  
"The way you kiss, you can't blame her if she tries," Ibuki growled  
  
ferally. "Or me either."  
  
Done with talking, she crushed her lips against K9999's, and at the  
  
same time, pressed herself against him, feeling the hardness of his  
  
wiry muscles, the endearing tension of inexperience in his body sending  
  
delicious shivers through her own body.  
  
For a moment, K9999 seemed torn between pushing Ibuki off or letting  
  
her have her way with him... and then something basic in him decided  
  
that if anyone was going to be molesting anyone here, it would be HIM.  
  
Snarling, he pushed Ibuki onto the boulder, getting a small, surprised  
  
yelp out of her, and the boy returned her kiss with force, running his  
  
hand possessively down her arm, feeling the softness of her exposed  
  
skin.  
  
Ibuki moaned slightly, and parted her mouth to lick lightly at K9999's  
  
lips. He took the cue and plunged his own tongue into her mouth and  
  
tasted her, all traces of his previous gentleness gone completely.  
  
This wasn't a game anymore. He wasn't pretending she was Angel any  
  
longer. He was just taking her. Ibuki had set out to awaken something  
  
in the boy, and she did... which suited Ibuki just fine, really.  
  
Eyes closed, drinking him in, she felt about until her hand encountered  
  
his own. She gripped it tightly and led it to where her breast pushed  
  
up against the tight fabric of her shirt. She groaned deeply in  
  
appreciation when he squeezed.  
  
He was almost completely on top of her now, and they went on with their  
  
kiss, tongues pushing and prodding at each other, all thought tossed to  
  
the side, simply letting pure instinct drive them both.  
  
The boy had good instincts.  
  
K9999 brought his free hand up and caressed Ibuki's neck, sending tiny  
  
goosebumps coursing through the girl's skin. He ran his hand down  
  
lower, harder, stopping briefly to squeeze Ibuki's other breast, and  
  
then going on down to rub enticingly at the kunoichi's bare stomach.  
  
Ibuki's flesh was afire where K9999 touched her, and she groaned,  
  
almost unable to bear it, and yet wanting even more, pawing at the  
  
boy's back convulsively.  
  
K9999 released Ibuki's breast and grabbed a hold of her ass, lifting  
  
her up slightly higher onto the boulder as his other hand sought better  
  
access into her shorts. His fingers found the garters of her pants,  
  
and they slipped in to slide maddeningly down along the writhing girl's  
  
smooth, hairless crotch. Ibuki buried her own fingers into K9999's  
  
hair and pulled him to her lips hungrily.  
  
Ibuki hissed with a sharp intake of breath when she felt his fingers  
  
finally touch her down where she was burning with a moist, slippery  
  
heat. She leaned back further on the incline of the boulder, and tried  
  
to open her legs up a little wider.  
  
An animal growling had been issuing from K9999's throat for a while,  
  
and now he pushed himself harder onto Ibuki, kissing ferociously. He  
  
barely registered the way Ibuki was almost painfully tugging at his  
  
hair, and he concentrated fully on gripping her by the buttock,  
  
spreading the cheek while his other hand slid a finger down the wet  
  
cleft it encountered under the girl's panties.  
  
He pressed her there cruelly, and she bucked her hips under him in  
  
reflexive response. Maintaining the pressure, he moved his finger  
  
downwards against the lubricated valley, and then moved it upwards  
  
again. He began to do this more rapidly, wetness making his fingers  
  
slip easily along the tender, inflamed flesh.  
  
This was too much for Ibuki-- she broke off from their kiss to bite  
  
down at her lower lip, trying to suppress her uncontrollable panting.  
  
K9999 moved his lips from her mouth to her neck to busy himself there.  
  
The besieged kunoichi screamed out when she felt a single digit enter  
  
her tight, moistened vagina.  
  
"TAKE ME!" she cried. "Oh, fuck, take me NOW! I WANT YOU IN ME!"  
  
Not missing a beat, K9999 slipped his finger out of her, and Ibuki  
  
shuddered with pleasure at the delicious friction. He placed his hand  
  
on her stomach, and she could feel the warmth of her own excretions  
  
smeared there, sending an irrational surge of arousal through her body.  
  
K9999 began to pull Ibuki's shorts down.  
  
This presented something of a problem, as they were both pressed  
  
against each other too closely for the bunched shorts and panties to go  
  
very far, and neither was willing to disengage long enough to take them  
  
off properly.  
  
Growling with frustration, K9999 abandoned Ibuki's neck for a moment  
  
and took his hand from her ass. Before Ibuki could do or say anything,  
  
he had turned her completely around, and was shoving her facefirst onto  
  
the smooth boulder. A hand slipped itself underneath her top and  
  
fondled her breast, rubbing roughly at the engorged nipple, making up  
  
for momentum lost. Ibuki clenched her teeth, eyes scrunched closed.  
  
"Oh, YES, yes, yes..."  
  
She felt her shorts and panties yanked savagely down her thighs with a  
  
single hand, and, for a few moments, she was bent over the boulder with  
  
her bare ass in the air as K9999 tugged at his own pants, unseen to  
  
her.  
  
It was probably just as well that she didn't see it-- because when she  
  
felt it, she almost shot forward involuntarily, and was prevented from  
  
completing the lunge only by the boulder she was being pushed onto.  
  
"Oh, my--" she began, breathless. "Is THAT--!?"  
  
She never got to finish her question, because the shaft of heat she'd  
  
felt lying momentarily between her buttocks moved its tip downwards and  
  
was now parting her lower lips urgently and irresistably. Before Ibuki  
  
knew what was happening, K9999 had speared his full length into her  
  
from behind.  
  
He... was... HUGE. She couldn't have guessed, never would have DREAMED  
  
that the boy's rather unimpressive physique would actually sport such  
  
an unexpected surprise. It occured distantly to the kunoichi that she  
  
just might have gotten a little more than she'd actually bargained for.  
  
If Ibuki hadn't been as aroused and horny as she had been when they had  
  
first begun, and thus, as wet, K9999 probably wouldn't have been able  
  
to get it all the way in.  
  
As it was though, K9999 was buried in her almost to the hilt, and Ibuki  
  
gasped on the boulder, pushing on the rock face to keep herself from  
  
being crushed. Her pussy throbbed, and small tears formed at the  
  
corners of her eyes at the vicious invasion.  
  
And then K9999 put his hands on her hips and began to *move*, his hips  
  
rocking rhythmitcally against hers, and it was all Ibuki could do to  
  
stop herself from thrashing about in ecstasy. She didn't even have the  
  
time to envy Angel anymore.  
  
Ibuki yowled, Ibuki screamed, and Ibuki groaned, all in pleasure as she  
  
was taken from behind hard, the hot, rigid shaft squelching into her  
  
again and again, sometimes pulling out to almost its full length, only  
  
to ram itself fully inside her again. She bent over even further,  
  
raising her butt higher in the air, offering more of herself, pushing  
  
herself against him everytime he pushed against her.  
  
K9999's hands assisted, and soon he was pulling her hips to him with  
  
every thrust, Ibuki's knees going weak and wobbly.  
  
He felt so BIG, and it was oh, so good, and...  
  
The kunoichi felt the familiar stirrings down underneath the pit of her  
  
stomach, and she moaned loudly as she felt the pressure build there,  
  
pleasure piled unto pleasure, and then K9999 rammed his enormous length  
  
into her hard, and the pressure burst forth and spilled over the rim--  
  
Ibuki tried to scream, to groan, but nothing came out of her mouth as  
  
a ripping orgasm tore through her, starting from her pussy, and then  
  
screaming up through her entire body to end at her fingertips.  
  
She drew an enraptured breath, body wracked with carnal explosions...  
  
... and K9999 was STILL going...  
  
If anything, he seemed to be redoubling his efforts. Wrapping an arm  
  
around Ibuki's waist, he lifted her up to him a little more and slowly  
  
inserted himself into her, ever so slowly, until he was fully inside  
  
her again, and then he was withdrawing slowly, ever so slowly, until  
  
only his tip was in her, and then he was sliding into her tightness  
  
again, this time the tiniest bit faster, until he was buried up to the  
  
haft, and then he was pulling out again, a little bit faster now.  
  
In this way, he picked up speed, and pretty soon he was pounding into  
  
Ibuki from behind in earnest, eliciting small, mewling noises from the  
  
girl underneath him.  
  
Electric surges of rapture marched crazily along Ibuki's crotch, her  
  
pussy quivered, and, unbelievably, she felt herself approach the edge  
  
once more. She tried to lick her lips, but her mouth felt sticky and  
  
hot, and at any rate, she had other, more pressing concerns at the  
  
moment. K9999's hand had found her breast again, and was squeezing it,  
  
twisting the nipple in time to his jarring thrusts, squeezing as he  
  
thrust, and thrust, and--!!  
  
Ibuki came again, uncontrollably, wildly, spasmodically jerking  
  
backwards, impaling herself on K9999's incredible length...  
  
... and K9999 was STILL going...  
  
He was getting close himself, though, as he began to grunt, and, still  
  
gripping Ibuki by the waist, he leaned forwards until the kunoichi  
  
could feel his chest on her back. She exhaled with a shuddery breath  
  
when she felt him nuzzling the sensitive back of her neck.  
  
Down lower, he was still kneading her breast, and even lower, he was  
  
plunging into her with abandon, his thighs slapping faintly against  
  
the back of her legs as he drove into her repeatedly, again, and again,  
  
and--  
  
Ibuki was whimpering now, and she didn't know how much longer she was  
  
going to last; already, her nerves were roiling once more, vaginal  
  
walls overloading with sensory input, and then she groaned as she came,  
  
and came, and came--  
  
... and K9999 was STILL going...  
  
He let go of Ibuki's breast and groped downwards to place two fingers  
  
on the swollen nub of Ibuki's clitoris. The ninja made a small,  
  
keening noise at the added stimulation, and began to rock herself  
  
against K9999's manhood anew. He matched her movement for movement,  
  
and was again pumping into her almost recklessly, pressing their sweaty  
  
bodies together, pushing himself even deeper, and *deeper*, and--  
  
Ibuki was quite beyond vocal expression at this point, and she simply  
  
rode the tsunami of sensation she was receiving. Her back arched back  
  
in a sultry curve as she orgasmed rapturously, a series of flares  
  
firing jets of pleasure through her body...  
  
... and K9999 was STILL going...  
  
He was slamming into her, very close now, and she was right behind him  
  
again, her pussy oversensitized with the constant rubbing, and she felt  
  
it would be the biggest orgasm yet as K9999 fucked her, and fucked her,  
  
and FUCKED her, and--  
  
She screamed as she climaxed, cheek against the boulder, and her hips  
  
bucked upwards of their own accord, twitching reflexively as her body  
  
was wracked with jolt after jolt of intense sexual release.  
  
And finally, her partner came as well, crushing her hips under his  
  
pelvis in one last mighty thrust as he shot his seed deep within her.  
  
He shivered as his turgid member spurted load after load, the milky  
  
overflow trickling lazily down Ibuki's labia.  
  
They both breathed in silence for a moment, rallying their strength.  
  
He remained inside her until he was small again, at which point Ibuki  
  
stirred. When she felt him slip out of her, she turned to face him and  
  
looked up at his face, slick with sweat.  
  
"Y-you..." the sated kunoichi started to say, raising a hand to stroke  
  
the boy's cheek lovingly. She giggled. "You're a freaking *machine*,"  
  
she sighed dreamily.  
  
K9999 managed a weak laugh.  
  
"T-thank you..."  
  
They laughed together for a while and fell asleep in each other's arms.  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
Ibuki had been awake when K9999 had gotten up and started his bike at  
  
dawn. The boy had even walked off a bit so the noise wouldn't disturb  
  
her. The silly dear.  
  
Ibuki hadn't felt it necessary to get up and say goodbye. It would be  
  
better for both of them this way. So she had lain there, pretending to  
  
be asleep while listening to the roar of K9999's motorcycle recede  
  
farther and farther into the distance.  
  
When he was gone, Ibuki finally sat up and regarded the spread of  
  
material she had been covered in. It was a blood red cape.  
  
She smiled at the unspoken message she knew was in the parting gift.  
  
"No... thank YOU, Nine-kun," Ibuki murmured to the morning, remembering  
  
the magical flash of love she'd felt from the boy, the love that wasn't  
  
for her, but one she had shared ever so briefly anyway. She smiled and  
  
hugged the bundled cape in her arms.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
Ahah, so it WAS doable after all. Go me.  
  
What finally became 'Mismatch' underwent several title changes,  
  
including 'The Smile and the Scowl', and 'The Lesson'. 'Mismatch' sat  
  
half-finished for almost six months until the initial writer's block  
  
was overcome, and the story's main characters finally managed to get it  
  
on, with almost fully half of this story written in a single day.  
  
Yeah, I knew trying to write K9999 and Ibuki together, even for a one-  
  
night stand, would be a challenging prospect to say the least. And yet  
  
I went and did it, though whether successfully or not should be best  
  
left to the readers.  
  
Why this exercise in what nearly counts as fanfic/literary masochism,  
  
you ask? I'll tell you why.  
  
The same reason I wrote Karin Kanzuki and Tiffany Lords together in  
  
'Contrast 3: Bodyguards, Battles, Beer and Beds'-- to utterly terrify  
  
Racewing, the benevolent overseer of Racewing Productions, and lord of  
  
the Lemonrangers, of which I am a cardholding member. Why terrify  
  
Racewing, you ask? Well, have you ever dreamed of having a job where  
  
you could both accomplish your responsibilities, and at the same time  
  
torment your boss? My new position as Lemonranger Orange affords just  
  
such an opportunity, and I intend to use it and abuse it as often as I  
  
humanly can.  
  
Racewing, I hope you knew what you were in for when you invited me on  
  
your little ship. Well... actually, you couldn't have known, come to  
  
think of it. Ah, well. :D  
  
'Mismatch' became a title for obvious reasons (i.e., K9999 and Ibuki vs  
  
the Hellkites = mismatch, and K9999 + Ibuki = mismatched couple), but  
  
some people may wonder about the secondary title, 'Men Are Better Than  
  
Power'. This is a rather unclever play on the anime title 'Men Are  
  
Better Than Flowers', which is the english translation for 'Hana Yori  
  
Dango', and the fact that K9999 seems to be obsessed with gaining more  
  
'power' than the man he was cloned from, K', who was, in turn, cloned  
  
from Kyo Kusanagi in the King of Fighters game universe. This was the  
  
very first of its titles, and one that I chose in honor of my girl's  
  
favorite soap opera series based on the same anime. :)  
  
Admittedly, I sport a certain affection for K9999, seeing as his  
  
character archetype was rather unabashedly lifted almost directly from  
  
the angst-ridden Tetsuo from one of my favorite anime and manga ever,  
  
the legendary 'Akira'. It would have been much easier for me to set  
  
him up with his longtime partner in crime, Angel, also from the King of  
  
Fighters universe, but like I always say, why go with convention when  
  
you can BREAK SOMEONE'S MIND!!???  
  
Once more, if you already have a girlfriend, or a viable love interest  
  
at least, sleeping with other girls = NOT wise, or even remotely  
  
ethical. But of course, this is fanfic-- WHAT ethics? XD  
  
Ibuki is, of course, from the Street Fighter: Third Strike game, and I  
  
have to say, I fell enamored of her upon first sighting the lovely  
  
young ninja and her slick moves onscreen. I still say that Third  
  
Strike sports the most beautifully animated sprites of all fighting  
  
games, bar none. But then again, I haven't seen Guilty Gear XX yet, so  
  
I may have to withhold judgement on that for now.  
  
Many, many thanks to the Racewing himself for prereading this. Racey,  
  
you skimmed this before reading it, you big cheat. =p  
  
Feedback of all forms is very much appreciated, and thus, is made  
  
almost criminally easy to submit when I present herein my contact  
  
information-- for YOUR convenience!!!  
  
thedemon@atenista.net (most likely to be seen)  
  
madsthebeast@yahoo.com (reserved for my girl, but I'll let you in, too)  
  
madsthehatchling@yahoo.com (third address, if you're paranoid, like me)  
  
This is Mads, the Insufferable Beast, signing off. Godspeed.  
  
-MtB; Mismatch, 06/01/03-12/30/03  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ --  
  
Ibuki got up, a hand on the small of her back, aching all over, but  
  
also feeling rather refreshed, which cancelled the bad feelings out.  
  
If her body felt a little manhandled that day, it was all rather  
  
understandable, really-- she HAD been manhandled. Ibuki cracked a dry  
  
grin to herself.  
  
She stood on the grass, stretched and yawned.  
  
Her cape fell off of her, and it was then that Ibuki noticed something  
  
very odd.  
  
She looked down and reevaluated her earlier assumption; apparently,  
  
K9999 had been up much sooner than she'd thought, and she'd been much  
  
more asleep than she could have guessed.  
  
"Where in the heck are my pants?" Ibuki muttered. And that was not  
  
all-- her underwear was missing as well.  
  
For a while, Ibuki just looked down sleepily at herself as she stood  
  
and gleamed in the yellow sun.  
  
She sniffed.  
  
"Mou."  
  
Several miles away, K9999 hummed in a very self-satisfied manner as he  
  
negotiated the empty highway, and rode into the sunrise.  
  
It was the start of a beautiful new day and a beautiful new future.  
  
-- ¤ 0 ¤ -- 


End file.
